Players could boycott BPL - Tim May

Unpaid fees and broken promises could lead to a players' boycott of the Bangladesh Premier League, Tim May has warned. May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) has revealed that "many" overseas players involved in the BPL remain unpaid and that players' patience with the organisers has worn thin.

"The players are very seriously considering some sort of boycott simply because there is little else they can do," May told ESPNcricinfo. "They were promised 25% of their fees as soon as they arrived in Bangladesh, another 25% before the last game and the final 50% within 150 days of the end of the event.

"In most cases, those first payments have not been made. As for the rest of the fees the players are owed, well, good lucking seeing that."

May admitted to a sense of frustration at the situation. After severe problems securing payments after the first instalment of the BPL, FICA advised players against taking part this time. Many ignored the warnings, however, and are now asking FICA for assistance.

"We didn't say this might happen," May said. "We said it would happen. So yes, there is an element of frustration. We gave the players strong advice and they ignored it. They seem to have thought 'it won't happen to me.'

"So, what do we do? The answer is we look at the bigger picture: we try to help the players in the same way in the way a foreign embassy might try to help people who find themselves in trouble in a foreign country they have been warned against visiting. Our obligation is to protect players' welfare and we will continue to look at way we can do that.

"We believe the new administration behind the Bangladesh Cricket Board should be better than the one that preceded it. We hope that the delays might be because they had little time to prepare ahead of this season of the BPL but, at the moment, we do still have some doubts about the BCB."

May did express the hope that the episode might convince players to take warnings from FICA more seriously in future. In particular, he hoped that players considering taking part in the Pakistan Super League might reflect that.

"There are good reasons why just about every government in the world is advising its citizens against travelling to Pakistan," May said. "There are good reasons why none of the major cricket boards are sending their teams to Pakistan and there are good reasons why most independent security experts say that it is not safe to visit the country.

"We are not making up the security concerns we have with Pakistan. We have an obligation to look after the welfare of players and there is nothing more important than their personal safety. We are strongly advising foreign players not to take part in the Pakistan Super League, but we understand that some are likely to do so anyway."

Now, it is understood that Shah gave wrong account number and his contract paper was not handed over to the BCB delayed the transfer of his payment. BCB repeatedly stated that as a parent body of BPL, they will make sure that all the players are paid. There were so much talk about payments last year, can anybody claim now about a single penny of non payment, NO. So, what is this big fuss about BPL now. Why is Tim May shouting so much. And I feel that cricinfo should publish the news with more information and clarification from all parties not just hearing one person. cricinfo has a global image as a renowned cricket website throughout the whole world. They should not publish such a news which may defame a cricket board and tournament when the root of the story is somewhat different. I expect cricinfo should publish a follow up news and Tim May should not be so premature to comment like this.

POSTED BY
A.Awal
on | February 2, 2013, 4:41 GMT

The Fact is that, Owais Shah put the wrong account number. That't why he does not received the fund & he acknowledge it.

POSTED BY
British_North_America
on | February 2, 2013, 4:33 GMT

HaHaHA, it was Shah's mistake, he gave wrong Bank A/C Number.He apologized now.

POSTED BY
JACK.SPARROW
on | February 1, 2013, 20:52 GMT

the fact is that the payment process goes through formalities and phases. for that reason ,payment is delayed. all players participated last year have been paid . so be patient and see. don't comment blindly

POSTED BY
Warm_Coffee
on | February 1, 2013, 16:20 GMT

I think we will be hearing from Shah soon not going to give it away based on reports I have been hearing today :)

POSTED BY
Coolgye
on | February 1, 2013, 15:59 GMT

It's a growing league. The IPL would have faced these type of problems had they not been the most populous cricketing nation :p

@ reality_check
Pakistanis should stop blaming BCCI for all that is happening in their country. It was all their doing. Likewise it would be ludicrous to compare BPL to IPL. Barring the last year that too by one franchise(which had one of their airlines go bankrupt last year) the massive sums of payments were never delayed before and I dont see it happening again. SLPL on the other hand is good, but they do not have as big market as India does and expecting it to do like IPL is not fair and again blaming the BCCI for it is not fair

POSTED BY
bigdhonifan
on | January 31, 2013, 16:45 GMT

@CrICkeeet may be you don't know much about Cricket. Tim May is former Australian test cricketer.

POSTED BY
Rezaul
on | February 2, 2013, 5:16 GMT

Now, it is understood that Shah gave wrong account number and his contract paper was not handed over to the BCB delayed the transfer of his payment. BCB repeatedly stated that as a parent body of BPL, they will make sure that all the players are paid. There were so much talk about payments last year, can anybody claim now about a single penny of non payment, NO. So, what is this big fuss about BPL now. Why is Tim May shouting so much. And I feel that cricinfo should publish the news with more information and clarification from all parties not just hearing one person. cricinfo has a global image as a renowned cricket website throughout the whole world. They should not publish such a news which may defame a cricket board and tournament when the root of the story is somewhat different. I expect cricinfo should publish a follow up news and Tim May should not be so premature to comment like this.

POSTED BY
A.Awal
on | February 2, 2013, 4:41 GMT

The Fact is that, Owais Shah put the wrong account number. That't why he does not received the fund & he acknowledge it.

POSTED BY
British_North_America
on | February 2, 2013, 4:33 GMT

HaHaHA, it was Shah's mistake, he gave wrong Bank A/C Number.He apologized now.

POSTED BY
JACK.SPARROW
on | February 1, 2013, 20:52 GMT

the fact is that the payment process goes through formalities and phases. for that reason ,payment is delayed. all players participated last year have been paid . so be patient and see. don't comment blindly

POSTED BY
Warm_Coffee
on | February 1, 2013, 16:20 GMT

I think we will be hearing from Shah soon not going to give it away based on reports I have been hearing today :)

POSTED BY
Coolgye
on | February 1, 2013, 15:59 GMT

It's a growing league. The IPL would have faced these type of problems had they not been the most populous cricketing nation :p

@ reality_check
Pakistanis should stop blaming BCCI for all that is happening in their country. It was all their doing. Likewise it would be ludicrous to compare BPL to IPL. Barring the last year that too by one franchise(which had one of their airlines go bankrupt last year) the massive sums of payments were never delayed before and I dont see it happening again. SLPL on the other hand is good, but they do not have as big market as India does and expecting it to do like IPL is not fair and again blaming the BCCI for it is not fair

POSTED BY
bigdhonifan
on | January 31, 2013, 16:45 GMT

@CrICkeeet may be you don't know much about Cricket. Tim May is former Australian test cricketer.

POSTED BY
CrICkeeet
on | January 31, 2013, 14:26 GMT

Excuse me....who is this TIM MAY? where was he before 4 d development of players? all of a sudden dis man is rising..........

POSTED BY
lut4rahman
on | January 31, 2013, 13:52 GMT

been sick of listening this kind of thing from Tim May, let the boycott happens first! and i am sure that is not gonna happen

POSTED BY
ExtremeSpeed
on | January 31, 2013, 13:41 GMT

@Lord_Legal - too too obvious :) they actually paid the fees from last season otherwise the foreign players that played last season wouldn't have come this season but fact is your views will have no affect on Bangladesh Cricket they are still playing and always will nice try ;)

POSTED BY
Lord_Dravid
on | January 31, 2013, 13:18 GMT

How very suprising, it appears that these bangladeshis simply cannot afford to run a tournament of this scale. Its also funny to see that the management is as comical as their cricket is.

POSTED BY
TheRisingTeam
on | January 31, 2013, 12:57 GMT

I'm confused what exactly is FICA? and why does it deliberately single out all the leagues except IPL? everytime I see them against Bangladesh, Pakistan etc but they don't seem to gain anything out of it.

POSTED BY
ZAB2121
on | January 31, 2013, 10:56 GMT

Bangladesh deserves that sort of response from FICA because apparently their players are members of FICA.

POSTED BY
Afifai
on | January 31, 2013, 10:48 GMT

Well Said Atif, I agree. Who is Tim May to judge us? Even without any cricket in Pakistan, we are an Asian Champions etc...

By the way, now I would research about Tim May and see which country does he belongs from....

POSTED BY
reality_check
on | January 31, 2013, 10:40 GMT

It seems like Tim May (FICA) will ONLY speak out if the interests of certain big cricket boards are threatened. Sad but this is the reality. BPL/PSL or even the one in SL will not be allowed to get off the ground successfully or flourish. That is the name of the game.

POSTED BY
KiwiRocker-
on | January 31, 2013, 9:29 GMT

Tim May has no mandate to make comments about PSL. While one will agree and understand that BPL has issues and they are going on since last edition, however, Tim May should not be influencing anyone to play or not play PSL. Who cares if Australian, English, South African players do not come to Pak for PSL. Pakistan will always have wonderful naturally gifted T20 players all over from Pakistan and I can bet, there will always be some wonderful humble Sri Lankan players who will turn up to support. If Tim May is so worried for security of players then he should go out and raise issue of security of Pakistani women who are made to stay inside staidum in India. These are doubkle standards and do not reflect nicely on FICA.. Even if a single foreign player shows up for PSL, it will be a success as unlike Bangaldeshi players, Pakistani players have a huge star power and Pakistani crowd will show up in thousands to support just to see their heros! Example is Pak's domestic T20-Always full!

POSTED BY
on | January 31, 2013, 9:25 GMT

Unless you visit BD sometime SirViv, you don't really know about whether the franchises can afford to pay players or not. In fact, they already paid the money to BCB, who of course is blaming it on the franchises that they messed up.

2 franchises have already paid their dues. The rest 5. I do not know what they are trying to do.

Fact is, BCB is not a board to be trusted with anything, they have proven it repeatedly. It's a shame that the same circus as last year is happening again.

I honestly doubt if the BCB would have any credibility after this. Rubbish board.

POSTED BY
Mariakutty
on | January 31, 2013, 8:46 GMT

We all agree that Pakistan is a safe country, it becomes dangerous only when foreigners arrive. Security of Pakistan cannot be trusted. Records prove it. Pakistanis have huge fans following in Bangladesh. Their board should've given NOC to their players to play BPL, instead they gave some lame excuses. Due to this reason BPL's popularity became even lower. Never compare IPL with other leagues. It's the KING of leagues. The Indian public alone is enough to make it a success.

POSTED BY
Rafelgibt
on | January 31, 2013, 8:25 GMT

@May said "We didn't say this might happen. We said it would happen. So yes, there is an element of frustration. We gave the players strong advice and they ignored it. They seem to have thought 'it won't happen to me." such a joke???By the way who is Tim May???All the people who are concerned about payment you must have to understand that in Bangladesh; Bangladesh Bank has a very comprehensive process to transfer currency from Bangladesh to other Foreign Banks.Franchises have already paid the money to BCB and BCB have already endorsed it.....So don't you guys worry....If payment was the issues then players like Gayle, Afridi,Hodge and other big players would never showed intention to play in BPL......Kindly mind it>>>>

POSTED BY
obaid1972
on | January 31, 2013, 7:03 GMT

Well, i do believe, BCB should make it public that all payments have been effected as committed, i.e. 25%, 25% and 50%. Otherwise they will lose their credibility. This year BPL is much more exciting than last year, already experienced lots of close matches. Most importantly Bangladeshi players have dominated in all segments. I think, BCB and PCB should sit together for future opportunity, if possible for the sake of game- cause i believe what has happened between two Boads , i firmly believe, its more of cricket diplomacy than cricket. PCB could have allowed players and then they would be in a strong position,BCB should then-make the negotiation with PCB. OBAID HOQUE, DHAKA.

POSTED BY
Pickpocket
on | January 31, 2013, 6:31 GMT

I think mismanagement is happened & also some miscommunication happened.
But is too early to comment such issue. Delays might be because they had little time to prepare ahead of this season of the BPL & new mgt committee.. I believe player will get their payment without further delays. I hope that news should also published by cricinfo that all payment is given accordingly for future success of Bpl. I'm simple supporter of this & billions of people also love Bpl, 4 that reason Bpl never lost its way..

POSTED BY
Atifkhan3489
on | January 31, 2013, 3:14 GMT

Dear may, i am pakistani and want to tell you that 180 million people are living in pakistan.how can you stop players comming to pakistan even you had not visited pakistan.i think pakistan is safe country and they desperately internatiol cricket here.

POSTED BY
YS_USA
on | January 31, 2013, 1:59 GMT

First, players like to play where ever they get a chance to play. Money is secondary and if they get paid, they are happy. Obviously, players would like to get a chance to play and also get paid IPL salaries, but, if salaries are less, they will still play if they get a chance. Only a few who make millions, may not opt for BPL or PSL or Carribean league, but for the rest, even $50,000 is enough for a few days work.

POSTED BY
here2rock
on | January 31, 2013, 1:22 GMT

BPL is poorly managed tournament. I feel sorry for the players.

POSTED BY
omar_choudhary
on | January 30, 2013, 22:36 GMT

BPL, will be done for by next year. If this will be the case, blame should be put on the franchises and BCB for their lack of communication with their players. Inshallah, PSL will run smoothely in its first year.

POSTED BY
on | January 30, 2013, 21:16 GMT

guys do u know one thing FICA MAKING FAMOUS BPL by their comment .so one way they helping us ,

POSTED BY
on | January 30, 2013, 21:12 GMT

FICA IS such a organisation who wants to help cricketers but like to say to FICA IS ANY PLAYERS did not paid from firs BPL and answer is all players got paid .BCB should more strict about payments and other issue than organisation like FICA cant take that opportunity to make down BD cricket . they are looking very jelous about BD cricket .

POSTED BY
SyedAreYouDumb
on | January 30, 2013, 20:24 GMT

I blame the franchises, remove them. Thats why i always wondered why the BPL franchises owners had to be Bengali. BCB take action please.

POSTED BY
Energetic.
on | January 30, 2013, 20:03 GMT

Tickets were sold out for Friday and Saturday matches, if they do boycott then there's no foreign player to watch.

POSTED BY
on | January 30, 2013, 19:38 GMT

Franchises, management, BCB and everyone concerned should act more responsible and do their job, instead of blaming each other. Good organization is essential for the success of the league, just as much as public interest or support is.

POSTED BY
SirViv1973
on | January 30, 2013, 18:57 GMT

Well I have little sympathy with the players. This sort of thing happened last year and the players were warned before signing contracts this time around that it could happen again. I Suspect that franchises cannot really afford to pay all the players they have bought. It seemed like it was a bit too good to be true that a country like Bangladesh could afford to have an IPL style league which could attract so many players from overseas, many of them proven internationals. I won't be surprised if BPL2 ends up being the last or is replaced by a scaled down version with far fewer overseas players, which would be a huge shame for the fans

POSTED BY
AndyZaltzmannsHair
on | January 30, 2013, 18:39 GMT

@teamxxx: Neither FICA nor Western news media is going to rock the boat with India and support Pakistan or its cricketers. That's just the way it is. Life isn't fair, as Pakistanis we should know this. Let's support ourselves, because no one is going to give us a helping hand.

POSTED BY
khanofcricket
on | January 30, 2013, 17:48 GMT

BCB always makes deceiptful promises and then goes back on those.

POSTED BY
visionbangladesh1
on | January 30, 2013, 17:39 GMT

AWW. well atleast Mr May has something to do now. Otherwise what's the point of having an organization in the first place? They need to employ more worker and roar every now and then. Happens. Regardless, I would like BPL to be more professional and pay our players back as soon as possible. If needed on BPL 3 they should impose even higher restriction over the auction limit.

POSTED BY
British_North_America
on | January 30, 2013, 17:37 GMT

Money has been paid but the problem is with balance transfer.Bangladesh Bank has a very comprehensive process to transfer foreign currency and Shah needs to be informed about it.His franchises has paid the money to BCB and BCB will never eat it.It is a cricket board and a part of ICC.

POSTED BY
Energetic.
on | January 30, 2013, 17:21 GMT

If this BPL thing is true then how will players will be tempted to go to other leagues like PSL especially when security is a big issue? these T20 leagues are causing problems with Cricket with new one coming up as well Caribbean Premier League never seems to end.

POSTED BY
on | January 30, 2013, 17:17 GMT

was expected...the same thing happened last year...why start a league when you can pay the players on time...ridiculous...

POSTED BY
Baundele
on | January 30, 2013, 16:53 GMT

Could we please wait until the boycott really happens before spreading the rumor, when a full house tournament is on progress?

No featured comments at the moment.

POSTED BY
Baundele
on | January 30, 2013, 16:53 GMT

Could we please wait until the boycott really happens before spreading the rumor, when a full house tournament is on progress?

POSTED BY
on | January 30, 2013, 17:17 GMT

was expected...the same thing happened last year...why start a league when you can pay the players on time...ridiculous...

POSTED BY
Energetic.
on | January 30, 2013, 17:21 GMT

If this BPL thing is true then how will players will be tempted to go to other leagues like PSL especially when security is a big issue? these T20 leagues are causing problems with Cricket with new one coming up as well Caribbean Premier League never seems to end.

POSTED BY
British_North_America
on | January 30, 2013, 17:37 GMT

Money has been paid but the problem is with balance transfer.Bangladesh Bank has a very comprehensive process to transfer foreign currency and Shah needs to be informed about it.His franchises has paid the money to BCB and BCB will never eat it.It is a cricket board and a part of ICC.

POSTED BY
visionbangladesh1
on | January 30, 2013, 17:39 GMT

AWW. well atleast Mr May has something to do now. Otherwise what's the point of having an organization in the first place? They need to employ more worker and roar every now and then. Happens. Regardless, I would like BPL to be more professional and pay our players back as soon as possible. If needed on BPL 3 they should impose even higher restriction over the auction limit.

POSTED BY
khanofcricket
on | January 30, 2013, 17:48 GMT

BCB always makes deceiptful promises and then goes back on those.

POSTED BY
AndyZaltzmannsHair
on | January 30, 2013, 18:39 GMT

@teamxxx: Neither FICA nor Western news media is going to rock the boat with India and support Pakistan or its cricketers. That's just the way it is. Life isn't fair, as Pakistanis we should know this. Let's support ourselves, because no one is going to give us a helping hand.

POSTED BY
SirViv1973
on | January 30, 2013, 18:57 GMT

Well I have little sympathy with the players. This sort of thing happened last year and the players were warned before signing contracts this time around that it could happen again. I Suspect that franchises cannot really afford to pay all the players they have bought. It seemed like it was a bit too good to be true that a country like Bangladesh could afford to have an IPL style league which could attract so many players from overseas, many of them proven internationals. I won't be surprised if BPL2 ends up being the last or is replaced by a scaled down version with far fewer overseas players, which would be a huge shame for the fans

POSTED BY
on | January 30, 2013, 19:38 GMT

Franchises, management, BCB and everyone concerned should act more responsible and do their job, instead of blaming each other. Good organization is essential for the success of the league, just as much as public interest or support is.

POSTED BY
Energetic.
on | January 30, 2013, 20:03 GMT

Tickets were sold out for Friday and Saturday matches, if they do boycott then there's no foreign player to watch.